The Essex Serpent

Apologies to the author but this one isn't for me. Incredibly dull, huge number of pages with epic descriptions with nothing happening. Unlikeable characters also don't help, a book needs somebody for you to cheer on. The setting of this book should have been stunning in it's bleakness but I felt nothing for it, even a sheep stuck in the mud provoked no emotions. It probably doesn't help that I kept wanting to compare to Wuthering Heights, so it was already off to a losing start as not many books can stand up to the quality of Wuthering Heights.

There is a TV series for this, I might watch it to see if that helps me to understand the appeal for this book.

This book was beautifully written and compelling but I was hoping for something slightly different.

2.5 stars. This book has gotten a lot of critical attention, so maybe I just didn't get it, but I felt like the convoluted plot just kept going down blind alleys -- every time I there was a big reveal that was going to drive the plot, the story shifted gears, or into another character's perspective, and it went nowhere. There were also so many characters that I had trouble getting that invested in anyone. The setting in Victorian-era England provided an interesting backdrop for the themes of conflict between science and superstition/religion, at a time when the world was certainly changing in that regard, but I didn't find it satisfying enough to recommend. Even the title character, the Essex Serpent himself, is a let-down.